In an area called Borth near
Aberystwyth there is an ancient submerged forest that appears on the beach at
very low tide. These entangled and mysterious roots show.

The idea of something
spectacular emerging from the ordinary seemed pertinent to the work and the
fact that all these fascinating figures, landscapes and moments were emerging
from the normal - and from a grittiness I felt in the darkness of the
geological make up of the place, in the stone used for sculptures, in some of
the beaches and in the weather.

How did you make the work? What was
your working practice?

I had a residency at Aberystwyth Arts Centre and my practice was to go
daily to places that attracted me for their atmospheric qualities and then
capture what emerged for me at any particular time. I work very intuitively.

You say you are interested in creating
‘sociological landscapes’? Why are you interested in this and how do you create
them?

I am interested in the images having some context – the way e.g the
background and figure work together to create some kind of narrative. It has
been said of my work that it is as if the figures have been stuck onto the
background. Also that my images are like a theatre where things happen or
people see it as an opportunity to present themselves This is of course also to
do with how the natural elements are all working together at that moment..

Do you adapt your practice to the
environments you are photographing in? I think I work pretty much in the same way unless I am on a commission
where I am given specific people or areas to work with. However the way I
approach my portraits and landscapes is the same.

Your pictures have a relaxed but
formal/neutral quality. Why do you photograph in this way? Should photographs
be neutral? Can they be neutral? It is the way I connect with my subject matter – as if on the same level
and with a combination of empathy and real excitement. Perhaps they feel they
can be themselves? I’m not sure if neutral applies as everyone will react to an
image in their own way and according to their own ‘heritage’

In the Guardian you said that you see
yourself as a hunter, that you “work intuitively, to sense in that person, at
that moment, something special.” What are the special things that you find and
how do you work these into a series? It is that sense of magic where you can be in a place at a certain time
and something spectacular appears and for me it is a celebration of life. I
cannot really explain how this happens for me, except that I do believe I “see”
as a result of my life’s experiences, upbringing and my particular exposure.

Can photography be intuitive? Can it be
truthful? For me it is intuitive in that I
allow the images to come to me. For the most part I don’t go out with an image
in my head. Once again the idea of truthful will change according to the
individual.

There is the sense inbetweeness in the
series you have produced, both in the subjects you photograph and the
environments you photograph them in. What do these areas tell you about people
and places? The areas that I worked in for The Submerged
were areas that had both a transient and permanent population and for me it was
showing that diversity.

Examples of these inbetween areas are
the ideas of the Edgelands, the liminal, the teenager in the gap between
childhood and adulthood. Why do so many photographers work in these areas? What
do you think the fascination is? For me it has a lot to do with
growing up in South Africa during the apartheid years and being the daughter of
Jewish Russian refugees. This feeling of being marginilised and exposed to a
wider marginilsation is what has drawn me to photograph people living on the
edge of society or subcultures – including adolescence. After leaving South Africa I felt alienated
and in an inbetween area myself.

How do you qualify success as a
photographer? Difficult, and I think there are
different levels. For me it is people understanding or responding to my work in
a similar way to how I responded when taking the photograph and in wanting to
work with the images in some way.

How do you make a living? Is it
possible to make a living in photography outside commercial/social photography? I had a big gap in my career due to leaving South
Africa when I did, so when I picked it up again I decided that I would not put
pressure on myself to make a living from it. I did a lot of unrelated jobs to
support my practice, and also commissions and I now teach photography at
University College Falmouth in Cornwall.

What are your next projects? I am working in South Africa on a community who
live in the Cape Flats in Cape Town.